Hamilton grateful for pole after Q3 spin

Lewis Hamilton says he is grateful to claim pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix after spinning off at the end of Q3.

Hamilton had taken provisional pole but lost control under braking for Turn 1 as he began his final flying lap.

However, team-mate Nico Rosberg also went off on his last lap, enabling Hamilton's earlier lap to remain fast enough for top spot.

"It was really quite a bad session all round, I was off Nico three or four tenths each run [and] each lap, I didn’t have confidence in the balance and the tyres and brakes, I’m grateful I got one decent lap in, the third lap was much better," he said.

"I don’t really know what went on, but it was a bit similar to what happened at Turn 2 last year, [it] happens quite a lot in this car and don’t know why."

Hamilton added that once he recovered from his spin, he believed that he had lost pole position to Rosberg.

"I wasn’t particularly concerned about it at the time, I was just trying to get the car going and get the car, that was the most concern for me," he said.

"I’d been backwards and I was in seventh gear or something like that, standing still so I was trying to look after that.

"But naturally, shortly afterwards, I was kind of like, “[I] probably lost it there”."